Legacy of Fire Gameplay

Krunk, who had only given the conversation a brief nod as far as attention goes, had to stop and process what was being said. "Wait wait wait, you're married?" The barbarian looked over Koray, squinting all the while. "Is she like, not as frigid at home? Or are you just into that?"

"I'd say there's a difference between frigid and measured," Koray replies diplomatically, chuckling and shaking his head. "So you're Krunk, I've heard quite a bit about you."

Krunk raises an eyebrow. "Yeah? Well I haven't heard shit about you." With that, he takes another large swig of ale.

Just then a slurred voice calls out, Heeeeyyy, Mahvash is married? That's sho craaaaaaazy. Let me shay hiiii.

The barbarian rolls his eyes, and mutters, "Ugh." With that, his head slumps.

Swiftly shifting to his elven form, Vel begins slowly slipping out of his seat before Haleen's hand finds the collar of his shirt and pulls him upright. Clearly drunk, Vel too loudly greets, "Mahvaaaaash! You didn't tell me you had a hushband! I can't believe we've been though all thish messh, and you're only jusht showing him to ush." The elf pouts, though the look is comically different from the usual kind of pout worn by his face.

”And you’ve heard about Vel too, though not generally like this,” Mahvash comments as means of half-introduction to Koray. ”When would this have come up, anyway, Vel?”

The elf's brow furrows as he attempts to think, but the attempt is soon abandoned with a sloppy wave. "Lishten, that'sh not the point here. I probably would've told you if I wash married. I'm not, because who the fuck would marry thish kind of a messh, but SHTILL! That'sh the kind of thing you tell friendsh." He looks to Haleen. "Haleen, you'd tell me if you were married, right?"

After a moment, he stops and looks back at Mahvash, looking wounded. "Wait, doesh that mean we're not friendsh?"

"Vel, you would have been at my fucking wedding," Haleen points out, rolling her eyes. "Yes, I'd tell you if I was married."

Pointing to Haleen, Vel loudly proclaims, "Shee? I'd have been at her wedding! I didn't even get invited to your wedding, Mavash!" The elf looks very distressed by this revelation.

Mahvash pinches the bridge of her nose. "No, Vel, it just means there was never a reason to bring it up," she answers, sounding perhaps a touch frustrated. "This isn't a reflection on our friendship. Also, we hadn't met when I got married."

Vel narrows his eyes suspiciously. "That shoundsh very convenient. Too convenient." Eyes still narrowed, the elf takes a small drink of his ale, and immediately makes a face. "Ugh, thish ish what he'sh been getting ush drunk off? Fucker could have at leasht gotten shome damn wine."

"Koray can verify my story," Mahvash answers lightly, giving a small smile. "He was there, after all."

The elf rolls his eyes, "Well obvioushly he'sh going to agree with whatever you shay. You're married. That'sh like, hish job."

"Now that's not entirely true," Koray shakes his head again, smirking. "For example, I don't agree that it's reasonable to go two years without telling your friends that you're married," he points out, taking Vel's side.

"I can't believe Nari's my only refuge in this situation," Mahvash comments, frowning and crossing her arms. "Vardishal gave me grief about that too, nearly as soon as he could speak directly with me."

"As I should have," Vardishal's voice emanates from Tempest at Mahvash's hip. "Mind, none of you talk about your families or history at all so all of you are pretty strange in that regard. It's completely different from how we Templars interacted when we were still together."

"Well, everyone has different focuses," Mahvash answers Vardishal with a shrug.

"And apparently yours is not sharing anything about your life at all," Koray jabs Mahvash with a little grin.

Mollified by the consensus reached around his appraisal of the situation, Vel happily replies, "Good, everyone thinksh you're wrong." With that, the elf takes another small swig of ale, and slumps forward. Before Haleen could attempt to catch him again, the slump suddenly halts, and begins to shift again.

Krunk rolls his eyes and mutters, "Gods damned lightweight."

Koray's eyes narrow in confusion. "How do you two have... different levels of tolerance?" he asks, slightly baffled. "I mean, you're in the same body, right? And the level of alcohol in your blood wouldn't change."

Krunk grunts. "I'm tougher than he is. And not just because this form's better. Whenever he gets knocked out, I'm still good to fight. Only thing that would stop me is being dead, and even that seems to be pretty cheap to fix now." To punctuate that statement, Krunk tosses back the remaining half of his mug, and refills it from the barrel.

"I... see," Koray blinks, evidently processing this.

"The fighting portion of that is actually how we met Krunk, if you'll recall," Mahvash adds. Not having pried deeply into this matter, however, she doesn't truly have more explanation to offer here.

Later in the afternoon, shortly before the feast itself, Almah has all six come meet her in her office, which is in the same place at the top of the restored battle market. However, it lacks the decorations that it used to have, just being a nice desk and some comfortable chairs with a side table for now. Almah does still have her cinnamon incense burning on the desk, but otherwise the decorations have been a lower priority than reconstruction. "Glad you could all make it, I hope you've been enjoying the party. So first of all, some news updates. I'm taking the Pactmasters to court for severe breach of contract, and as a result I've been advised I'll likely be able to change Kelmarane's legal status. We'll gain more independence, such as the ability to write our own laws, with our only obligation to Katapesh itself being taxes. Because of that, I plan on having a small prison built so we no longer need to only use only capital or corporeal punishment. Secondly, I plan on abolishing slavery completely within the confines of the town. Specifically chattel slavery, temporary indentured servitude will remain legal."

Lydia suppresses a smug smirk but doesn't interrupt.

After pausing a moment to gauge reactions, Almah continues, "But moving on, the real reason I asked you here wasn't to make announcements first that I plan on making at the feast anyways. I wanted to properly thank you all for saving Kelmarane for the third time and my own life for the second. And, given that you've worked with me for a while, you know that my thanks tends to come in payment. I realize that gold won't be too much of an issue now that you've gotten Jhavul's treasury, but I have other indirect ways I can thank you all each individually. Let's start with... Nari," she faces the deaf sorcerer directly. "There isn't much I can give you that you can't just magic yourself, but it's my understanding that you plan to repair the Scroll of Kakishon. In that case, all my resources and contacts are at your disposal for that endeavour. Moreover, I had heard that the palace inside Kakishon had better days. Once you repair the scroll, I will fully fund all repairs for the palace as well."

"Thank you very much for your generosity, Lady Almah," Nari signs, bowing her head with respect. "I am sure that the resources will be a great help in restoring Kakishon."